The present invention relates to devices for pushing and pulling an electricians fish tape through sections of conduit before and during the pulling of electrical wiring through section of electrical conduit; the fish tape feed mechanism includes a housing, an electrically powered motor drive assembly positioned within the housing and controlled by a user activated switch for controlling the direction and speed of the electrically powered motor drive assembly, a fish tape drive assembly including a pair of non-electrically conductive idler wheels and a non-electrically conductive drive wheel that are configurable to frictionally grip and move a section of a fish tape by an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the gripping force between the fish tape drive assembly and a section of the fish tape, and a drive mechanism mechanically linked between the electrically powered motor drive assembly and the non-electrically conductive drive wheel of the fish tape drive assembly and having a feed tape distance display including a microprocessor circuit programmed to utilize data input from an optical encoder mechanically linked to the fish tape drive assembly such that data from the optical encoder is processed into a fish tape feed distance by the microprocessor which then generates and transmits a set of display signals to a visual display device for continuously displaying the length of feed tape fed through the fish tape drive assembly; a non-electrically conductive idler wheel of the pair of non-electrically conductive idler wheels of the fish tape drive assembly being mounted onto a pivoting bracket to allow for the lateral insertion of a section of feed tape between the one non-electrically conductive idler wheel and the non-electrically conductive drive wheel.
Electrical wiring in building and the like are sometimes required by building codes and the like to be run through electrical conduit or piping so as to protect the wiring from damage by rodents and the like as well as to prevent possible fire hazards caused by wires heating to dangerous temperatures due to over current conditions and the like. Although the use of conduit is a good idea, it can be difficult for electricians to pull lengths of electrical wiring through the electrical conduit requiring the electrician to feed a fish tape into one end of a section of conduit and through the empty conduit until it emerges from the opposite end of the conduit section. The end of the electrical wiring is then attached to the fish tape and the fish tape is then pulled back through the section of conduit pulling the electrical wiring along with it. Although this works well, considerable force is often required to accomplish this task which can easily tire out one or more electricians, especially when working under hot or otherwise physically demanding construction site conditions. It would be a benefit, therefore, to have a fish tape feed mechanism that was electrically powered and which could feed the fish tape in as well as withdraw the fish tape from a section of conduit.
It is thus an object of the invention to provide a fish tape feed mechanism that includes a housing, an electrically powered motor drive assembly positioned within the housing and controlled by a user activated switch for controlling the direction and speed of the electrically powered motor drive assembly, a fish tape drive assembly including a pair of non-electrically conductive idler wheels and a non-electrically conductive drive wheel that are configurable to frictionally grip and move a section of a fish tape by an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the gripping force between the fish tape drive assembly and a section of the fish tape, and a drive mechanism mechanically linked between the electrically powered motor drive assembly and the non-electrically conductive drive wheel of the fish tape drive assembly and having a feed tape distance display including a microprocessor circuit programmed to utilize data input from an optical encoder mechanically linked to the fish tape drive assembly such that data from the optical encoder is processed into a fish tape feed distance by the microprocessor which then generates and transmits a set of display signals to a visual display device for continuously displaying the length of feed tape fed through the fish tape drive assembly; a non-electrically conductive idler wheel of the pair of non-electrically conductive idler wheels of the fish tape drive assembly being mounted onto a pivoting bracket to allow for the lateral insertion of a section of feed tape between the one non-electrically conductive idler wheel and the non-electrically conductive drive wheel.
Accordingly, a fish tape feed mechanism is provided. The fish tape feed mechanism includes a housing, an electrically powered motor drive assembly positioned within the housing and controlled by a user activated switch for controlling the direction and speed of the electrically powered motor drive assembly, a fish tape drive assembly including a pair of non-electrically conductive idler wheels and a non-electrically conductive drive wheel that are configurable to frictionally grip and move a section of a fish tape by an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the gripping force between the fish tape drive assembly and a section of the fish tape, and a drive mechanism mechanically linked between the electrically powered motor drive assembly and the non-electrically conductive drive wheel of the fish tape drive assembly and having a feed tape distance display including a microprocessor circuit programmed to utilize data input from an optical encoder mechanically linked to the fish tape drive assembly such that data from the optical encoder is processed into a fish tape feed distance by the microprocessor which then generates and transmits a set of display signals to a visual display device for continuously displaying the length of feed tape fed through the fish tape drive assembly; a non-electrically conductive idler wheel of the pair of non-electrically conductive idler wheels of the fish tape drive assembly being mounted onto a pivoting bracket to allow for the lateral insertion of a section of feed tape between the one non-electrically conductive idler wheel and the non-electrically conductive drive wheel.